Sweet Nightmare
by videogamenerd101
Summary: AU. Every night, she relives the pain. Every night, she relives the suffering. But tonight, it was even worse for Kari. It's been twenty years since that tragedy at school had happened. And on that day, she had lost every one of her friends... and the one she loved. And every night, she relives that sweet nightmare. Tribute to Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.


**A/N: I didn't get to include this in the summary because of character count, but there's implied Takari. I do not own Digimon or any of the characters. Enjoy and don't forget to review.**

* * *

"_What's wrong, TK?" I ask, peering into his eyes, his expression full of thought. I gently place my hand on his cheek, causing him to jump back into reality._

_The soft green grass tickles my toes as I get up from the ground. I look worriedly at TK as I wait for a reply, his seemingly tired body lying on the grass, his eyes gazing at the bright blue skies and puffy white clouds hovering right above us. Red and purple lilies and tulips sway to the gentle breeze in the air, also brushing my hair against my neck. _

_Everything is perfect harmony. I don't know how it can get any better._

_Well, it can get better if TK just stops looking glum and be his cheery self again._

"…_It's nothing, Kari," he finally answers, putting his hands behind his head in a casual manner after a long moment of silence. "At least, it's nothing that you would understand…"_

"_TK, just tell me what's on your mind," I try again soothingly. I push a lock of his disheveled dirty blond hair behind his pale ear, despite the fact that he's wearing a hat, just like he always does, and always did, since I first met him. "You trust me, right?"_

"_Of course," he says without an expression of any sort except sadness. "It's just… Well, I don't know how to explain it, really." _

"_Try," I urge, staring into the same blue eyes I love up to this day, the same blue eyes that I first made eye contact with twenty years ago. _

_He sighs, and breathes in a somewhat significant gulp of air. "I… I'm not going to last very long."_

_Suddenly, I begin to panic. I don't know why, and I don't even understand what TK is trying to tell me. But the tone in his voice makes it a bit obvious that what he's trying to convey to me isn't going to be something I'm looking forward to knowing._

"_What do you mean?" I wonder. "You seem healthy to me." I place the back of my hand on his forehead, but I only feel the slightest bit of warmth. "And your body temperature seems under control."_

_He chuckles slightly, although it sounds a bit forced. "You never change, do you? Kari, you pay attention to the big picture too much rather than the little details." As if he wants to show me something, he raises his arm. I'm a bit puzzled by this action at first, but suddenly, I realize what he's trying to show me._

_His pale skin is now a deep crimson, blood gushing out of a good-sized cut in the middle of his palm. I can't accept it at first, but I realize that he's bleeding. The long sleeves of his green shirt is already growing a darker shade of red by the second, crimson red blood trickling from his sleeve, a few drops hitting my white shorts. But I don't care._

_All I can think, or should I say, worry about, at the moment is TK's condition._

_I immediately pull out my pink cellphone from my pocket and dial 911. But right when I'm about to start the call, I feel some dirty, red, yet comforting hands leave a mark on my wrist. I look down to see that it's TK, and by now, blood is already pouring from his chest and spreading like a flood to other parts of his body, completely encasing him in a pool of that horrible, red liquid. _

_By now, tears are already trickling down my eyes. I know that the best thing to do is to get immediate help, but it seems like TK is preventing me from helping him out._

"_Don't," he persists, giving me that lovely childish smile that always makes those butterflies in my stomach flutter like crazy, but right now, those butterflies feel like they're crippling into a million pieces, ready to die at any moment. _

_I break into a flood of tears, knowing that the one who I will do anything for, even sacrifice my own life for, is about to die. Right in front of my eyes. And he's stopping me from doing anything about it._

"_TK, but you're gonna…" I trail off, not wanting to say that word, that heartbreaking, devastating word. I sniffle a little, refusing to accept the fact that TK will no longer be in my life in a matter of time._

_As if on cue, the skies that are once blue turn a stormy shade of gray, the puffy white clouds shifting into a dark color, thunder occasionally booming from a distance. I feel the cold pelting of the rain from above softly hit my brown hair, my blood-stained hands, my clothing soaked in tears, and the weak body of the one I love with all my heart._

_TK's soft, crimson hand touched my tear-stained cheek. "It's going to be too late, Kari. It's my time." Despite the rain that's quickly turning into a huge rainstorm, I notice a tear trickle down his eye, and for the very last time, I take one last look at that lovely face, that lovely childish face that I adore. "You… You're the most b-beautiful girl I have ever met, K-kari. I know that s-someone w-will love you… someone who will actually b-be there for you… when you need a h-hand."_

_And in a quick heartbeat, the sadness in his eyes disappears as he slowly closes his eyes and lets eternal sleep envelop him._

* * *

I shoot straight up from my bed as I wake up from the… horrible? No. Terrifying? No. Scary? No.

…Sweet?

Yes, sweet. My sweet nightmare.

To my left, I hear Davis, my fiancé who had just proposed to me a month ago, stir in his sleep and wake up. He lets out a huge, tired yawn, stretches his arms, and finally focuses his attention to me. In a heavy voice, he complains, "Kari, it's like two in the morning. Can't you just let me get some sleep?" Even with the darkness shrouding most of our surroundings, he looks closely at my pale face and knows what's wrong. "It's those nightmares again, huh?"

I nod, letting myself fall into Davis's embrace. Some of my tears fell onto his blue t-shirt, but he doesn't seem to mind.

"Kari, I know that today is the same day twenty years ago when that shooting happened at our school, and I can feel your pain. But tomorrow morning, we'll be heading to Newtown, Connecticut and see the graves of all of our friends. And don't worry about the drive, either. It won't take that long to drive from New York City to Connecticut. Now, get back to sleep, Honey. You need it." He kisses me lightly and quickly pulls away. He snuggles back into the warm, white blanket, drops his head on the pillow, and starts snoring in the blink of an eye.

I sit there, watching Davis get back to sleep. When I'm one hundred percent positive that he's asleep, I silently sneak out of bed and tiptoe to the snug living room of our high-rise condo in the middle of the always busy city of New York.

Lights still gleam from almost every room in every building that is visible through the wide window that makes up the right wall. I can hear cars honk their horns and drunken people shrieking meaningless words, even from the twenty-second floor. As I turn on a small desk lamp near the black, leather loveseat, I organize all of Davis's cooking magazines and put it in a neat pile on the glass coffee table. I take a seat on the loveseat, pick up a brown cardboard box on the floor, and dig through it until I find the one thing that I treasure, the one thing I go to when those sweet nightmares come to me in my dreams. It's the only way for me to relieve my soul of the pain of that day, that tragic day twenty years ago.

I heave a sigh, and open the picture book that I had been making with TK when we were in the first grade twenty years ago at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The first pictures were taken in August of 2012 when we had first met. Right when we got to know each other, we immediately became the best of friends. I mean, I was also good friends with Davis, Yolei, and Ken, but something about TK told me that he was different… that he was special. I had preferred to hang out with him than anyone else.

Every time I look back at these pictures, I always realize how young we were, and how twenty years can just fly by in the blink of an eye. His disheveled blond hair, his kind blue eyes, and basically everything about him warm my heart. I smile and flip through the rest of the pictures. They aren't much, since TK and I only had about five months to bond, and that's not a lot of time when you're wanting to spend it all with your best friend.

Finally, I'm staring at the last page of the pictures, the last pictures I have before that terrible incident. Tears begin to form in my chocolate brown eyes, but I hold them back, knowing that all the tears will be shed tomorrow when Davis and I drive down to Newtown to remember all of our old friends back at Sandy Hook.

But as I continue to look at the last of my pictures I had taken with TK, I can't help but recall that heartrending memory that gives me those sweet nightmares every night.

* * *

It was 9:30 AM, and the whole class was getting ready for the day. I was hanging my pink backpack on my hook in the back of the room while all of my other classmates were either racing around the room or chatting casually with each other. Our current substitute teacher at the time, Ms. Rousseau, was on her computer, most likely checking her email. Our messy, colorful paintings that we had painted just the other day were lying on a rack in a corner of the room, waiting for us to pick it up and appreciate the masterpiece that we had painted on the white paper. TK was sitting at his desk, deeply involved in reading a very light novel. He looked up from his book and smiled at me. Just like I would have done to any other person, I smiled back at him.

Right when I took a seat at my desk next to TK, Ms. Rousseau got out of her seat and, right as she approached the front of the room, the intercom went on, the not-so-anticipated morning announcements that our principal, Mrs. Hochsprung, would announce each and every morning beginning.

"Good morning Sandy Hook Elementary!" the principal exclaimed over the intercom. "Here are today's morning announcements…"

After those two usual sentences she would tell us each morning, I would completely ignore all the announcements, knowing that most of them are completely pointless. TK agreed with my opinion on them, too, and during the morning announcements, we would just quietly talk with each other and try to make sure that Ms. Rousseau wouldn't catch us.

All of a sudden, I heard a loud bang come from the classroom door. It was of the most unusual sound that you would ever hear at an elementary school. I turned my head around and saw a hole in the middle of the classroom door.

_What… What's happening? _I thought worriedly when I saw that hole.

But my thoughts were all answered when the door of the front room was kicked down by a shady man who was holding a gun in his hands. He was wearing black military-style gear that made him look really scary to my six-year-old eyes. I didn't see any of his facial features, a mask completely covering his face. A bulletproof vest protected his chest, giving him extra protection.

All of the kids, including me and TK, were speechless, and so was Ms. Rousseau. The gunman interrupted the silence when he shouted, "Put your hands up!"

I was about to obey his command until I heard Ms. Rousseau scream, "Don't shoot!" But the gunman didn't obey her command. He aimed his gun at Ms. Rousseau and pulled the trigger.

_Boom._ Ms. Rousseau fell on the floor, a bullet shooting straight through her heart.

I heard a girl shriek loudly, completely unaware of the gunman at the front of the classroom. The fact that the gunman had just shot our substitute teacher horrified me, the thought still trying to sink in. Everyone seemed to be shocked as well, the horror in their eyes evident. Sadly, that same girl who had let out that shriek was the gunman's next victim. He aimed at her and pulled the trigger again.

_Boom._ The girl died along with Ms. Rousseau.

My jaw dropped in shock, realizing the horrible truth.

This gunman was here to kill us all.

The scary man observed the whole room, most likely thinking of something to do with us. Suddenly he aimed at the first kid he saw. And after that kid, basically almost every other kid.

_Boom._ One died. _Boom._ Another died. _Boom._ Child after child died right in front of the terrible gunman's feet.

The whole classroom was full of chaos. TK and I were hiding under our desks, making sure that we were out of sight from the gunman. Girls and boys screamed in horror, causing them to be shot by the gunman. I flinched every time I heard the _boom _of the gun go straight into a child's body. I looked to my left, and I accidentally let out a squeak of horror when I saw what was there.

Two of my best friends, Yolei and Ken, were lying on the carpet, blood gushing from their chests, their eyes completely lifeless.

_Yolei… Ken… How could this man do this to my two best friends?!_

I was about to break into tears right then and there. It was too much for me to handle. I shifted my position so I would be clutching my legs against my chest. But throughout my misery, I had forgotten that that special someone was there all along.

"Kari?" TK whispered, nudging me with his shoulder. "Kari, are you there?"

I got back into reality and noticed the look in TK's eyes were more serious than ever. Not even a glint of happiness was still in the blue of his eyes. He seemed like a completely different person, a stranger even. But my familiarity with him still made me trust him. "What is it, TK?"

"Play dead," he insisted.

I couldn't quite hear what he had said because of the chaotic noises that were echoing throughout the room, his voice somewhat muffled. "Uh… what did you say?"

He opened his mouth a little to repeat what he had said, but then, the one thing that I had feared would happen just happened right in front of my eyes.

The speedy bullet plunged straight into the heart of TK Takaishi, the one boy that had given me a true meaning of life.

His body fell back and he became limp. He managed to look into my tear-stained chocolate eyes, smile, and force out two last words.

"Play dead," he repeated in a low, raspy whisper.

And his eyes closed forever, his childish smile still on his face.

_This can't be happening, right?_

_TK can't… die._

_He's my best friend._

_But no. It's actually happening._

…_No, he can't die. He can't die!_

"No," I whispered, shedding a bunch of tears onto the carpet. "No, no, no. N—"

I held myself from shrieking with all my lungs. I couldn't die. Not for TK, at least.

I knew that the best thing I could have done was to obey TK and play dead. I got on the ground, moved around into a comfortable position, and closed my eyes, pretending that the gunman had already shot me. I made sure my chest wasn't visible so the gunman couldn't see that I was completely fine. But that wasn't the only reason for my hiding.

I didn't want anybody to see the tears in my eyes that were weeping for TK's death.

* * *

I was still lying consciously under my desk, not knowing what to do. The quietness of the school was telling that I should go out from under my desk and find someone. The first person who came to mind was my older brother in the third grade here, Tai Kamiya. But as I began to crawl out from under my desk, I decided against looking for help. That gunman could have still been in the building, although he would be hiding somewhere.

So I continued to lie under my desk in utter silence, not wanting to catch the attention of anyone who seemed or looked scary.

In less than a minute, I heard footsteps in the room. I cringed, assuming that it's the gunman and he wanted to come back for more. For more bloodshed, murder, and pain. I was about to cry a little bit, thinking that it's my turn now. I felt someone grab my shoulder but I shoved the hand away. But when I looked up at who had touched me, I realized that I shouldn't have done that.

It was my dear brother, Tai, the only other person besides TK who I could have went to when I was in trouble.

"Kari, you're alive!" he exclaimed. I fell into his embrace, the tears from Tai's eyes falling onto my short brown hair. "When I heard the gunshots over the intercom… I thought… I thought it would be the end for you. I… I couldn't stop thinking about you. I'm just so glad… that you're safe." His words were broken by his sniffling and sobbing, but I was just happy that I was actually with someone I knew.

"…I'm glad I have you, Tai," I managed to say after a long silence, still in Tai's embrace. I didn't pay attention that well, but I thought that I saw Tai smile, despite all the tears that were still pouring out of his identical chocolate brown eyes.

"I… I'm glad to have you too, Kari," he said back. I saw Tai's friend Matt entering the room and I immediately let go of the embrace, knowing that it would take a lot of explaining to break the horrible news to him.

"Kari, there you are!" shouted Matt, hugging me. He had a huge smile on his face, the thought of telling what happened getting harder to say. I hugged him back and we quickly let go of each other. "TK should be so glad that you're alive! By the way, where is TK?"

"Yeah, where is he?" asked Tai as he wiped tears from his eyes.

"He's… uh…" I trailed off and looked down at the ground, still trying to find a way to word what I needed to tell Matt. I just gave him a saddened expression, and I thought he understood what I meant.

"No… No, no, no!" he suddenly shrieked. "No, this can't happen! Not to my little brother! Kari, tell me that you're lying, please!" The huge grin that was on his face just a while ago quickly changed into the shedding of more tears. The tears in Matt's eyes were unbearable. I couldn't help but continue to cry. Answering Matt's plea, I cocked my head towards TK's desk. Matt rushed over there, but only to find the bloody corpse of the child he had known as his dear little brother.

"TK, tell me you're alive!" he managed to choke out in the middle of sobs. He shook TK's dead body fiercely, hoping that it would have done something. "TK, just say something!"

"There's no point in trying to wake him up, Matt," I pointed out as I approached him. "He's asleep… forever." I pushed a lock of Matt's blond hair behind his ear like I used to do with TK. But it didn't feel the same. Matt didn't have the same dirty blond hair that TK had. Matt was a pure blond. Despite that, the look in his blue eyes reminded me so much of TK's eyes when he wasn't in a good mood.

I had easily realized that Matt just wanted to punch me in the face for what I had said. Just like I had been right when TK had died, I couldn't accept it.

He balled his fist and aimed at me, but he didn't seem to have the nerve to do it. He couldn't have hurt his brother's best friend, right? Matt ended up putting his fist down, not wanting to hurt me.

"Matt, are you—" began Tai, but Matt cut him short.

"Leave me alone, Tai!" Matt yelped helplessly. He obviously didn't want anybody to bother him while he's mourning the loss of his brother.

"But—" Tai tried again.

"I said, leave me alone!" exclaimed Matt one more time.

I whispered into Tai's ear, telling him it's best to give Matt some alone time. He agreed by nodding.

As we walked out of the classroom door together, hand in hand, I took one more look at the beloved boy who was my best friend. I made a mental note of how cute he looked when he smiled and how his dirty blond hair was so comforting, even though it was always a bit messy. And I knew that one thing would be certain.

I would never forget my very best friend, TK Takaishi.

* * *

And from that day on, I see these sweet nightmares in my dreams each and every night.

I turn to the very last page in the book, the page that I despise seeing because of how hard it is for me.

It's a picture of TK's grave of the first time I saw it when I was six-years-old. I remember what his grave says up to this day, but I never can help myself from not reading it every time I see it.

_Here lies Takeru "TK" Takaishi_

_Best friend, beloved little brother, and the boy with that spark of hope._

_November 6, 2005 — December 14, 2012_

_Even with this little boy gone,_

_The Hope he possessed will be blessed to the entire world._

I feel a tear trickle down my cheek and hit the picture of his grave that I took twenty years ago. When I decide that I should go back to sleep, I close my picture book, place it back in the very bottom of the cardboard box, and head back to the bed where Davis is already snoring like crazy.

As I fall back asleep, I can't wait for the next day. I want to go back to Newtown to see my very best friend who I spent all my time with twenty years ago. I think about the future I would be having of TK didn't die. We would still be friends, of course. Maybe even more than friends. I might even be engaged to him instead of Davis if TK is still alive.

I hope that I will never have these sweet nightmares again, so I won't have to cry every single night. The pain I go through every day is already enough for me. I just can't survive any more torture. I don't want to see TK die over and over again in my dreams. But then I remember something: the reason why I have always decided to keep those dreams I see at night come back to me.

Without those sweet nightmares, I would never be able to see TK ever again.

* * *

**A/N: As I've said in the summary, this was written for the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.**

**To tell the truth, I didn't give much concern for this horrible incident when I first heard about it. That was until I watched The Voice's wonderful performance of Hallelujah. That's when the pain really got to me. I just wanted to cry my heart out, really. I knew that I had to write a story in honor of those children who got shot. If it wasn't for The Voice's performance, I would never have written this story. I really suggest watching that performance if you have the time, because it was so beautiful and perfect. **

**For everyone who was shot… rest in peace. **


End file.
